News24 | Upside to Cape storms: Dam levels dramatically rise, some to 100%

Theewaterskloof Dam which supplies Cape Town with water is at 99.1% of capacity, according to the City of Cape Town (Duncan Alfreds/News24)

Western Cape dam levels have risen to 87.5% capacity following a week of severe storms across the province.The City of Cape Town said its dams increased by 20% in a week.Despite the rising dam levels, residents were urged to use water sparingly.After a week of heavy rains, the Western Cape’s dam levels have increased dramatically.

The Department of Water and Sanitation said a number of the province’s dams were already above 100% capacity, including Berg River Dam, Buffeljags Dam, Ceres Dam, Tierkloof Dam and Steenbras Dam.

It added that in just one week, the province’s dam levels rose from 75.5% to 87.5% capacity.

At this time last year, they were at 89.6%.

The City of Cape Town said its dam levels had increased by 20% in a week and were at 95.2% as of Wednesday. This time last year, dam levels were at 99%.

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In the first two weeks of July, Wemmershoek Dam received more rainfall (460mm) than the previous record of 433.5mm for the month of July since 1992, the City said.

Cape Town Water and Sanitation MMC Zahid Badroodien urged Capetonians to continue using water sparingly.

He said:

We appreciate the heavy rain that has been filling our dams, but we cannot allow this to give us a false sense of water security in the future. Cape Town has learnt that we cannot solely rely on dams for water security, so the City is busy investing in its New Water Programme. This includes projects such as desalination, groundwater schemes and reuse, which are at various stages of progress.

Badroodien said through these projects, the City was working toward increasing supply by an extra 300 million litres of new water everyday by 2030.

According to the South African Weather Service (SAWS), cold and wet weather can be expected to persist for the rest of the week, with cold fronts bringing rain between Wednesday and Saturday.

Accumulated rainfall of between 10mm and 20mm is expected, but the SAWS said that could increase to between 30mm and 35mm in mountainous areas such as Paarl and Stellenbosch.

A Yellow Level 2 warning has been issued for disruptive rainfall and damaging winds.

Dam

Capacity in megalitres
(Ml)

% storage as at 16 July 2024

Berg River

130 010

101.8

Steenbras Lower

33 517

102.6

Steenbras Upper

31 767

100.7

Theewaterskloof

480 188

99.1

Voëlvlei

164 095

76.1

Wemmershoek

58 644

95.6

Total Stored Ml

898221

855 187

% Storage

95.2

Data provided by the City of Cape Town

The series of storms that lashed the province last week resulted in widespread flooding in Cape Town, the Cape Winelands and the West Coast.

In Cape Town, authorities estimated that 158 097 people were affected and 47 663 structures flooded or damaged over two weeks of heavy rain.

In just one weekend, the City of Cape Town issued 1 090 flood kits in various informal settlements.